Woohoo!We have our own forum. This is So. Very. Exciting.I think it would be great to have an "Introductions" thread in here, where we can do a paragraph each. It's nice to help network and introduce ourselves to the other Aussie & NZ veg folk. It's easy to get lost in the whole-of-PPK one.

Anyway, I'm Matt, and I'm in Brisbane. I've been veg for about 5 years, and run a fairly new all vegan (& usually gluten-free) food/consulting business called "Delicious, Regardless" http://www.facebook.com/deliciousregardless, which supplies mostly omnivore cafes with gf vegan desserts, and we do private orders. It's super exciting to be able to be doing something veg and hopefully helping to further the cause. I'm also hoping to be working full time in a vegan cafe soon whilst co-running my business. I co-write a food/music/other blog at http://www.jamesandmatt.com.au & live with a gorgeous devon rex cat who is like an adorably evil monkey & lives to destroy pretty/breakable/shiny things. My favourite non Isa&Terry cookbook authors are: Dreena Burton, Bryanna Clark Grogan, Julie Hasson and Dynise Balcavage. My favourite Australian veg food place would be a cross between Trippy Taco in Melbourne, and Green Palace Thai in Sydney. For those of you on the Twitter, you can find me http://www.twitter.com/mattheworbit - looking forward to meeting some of you!

hooray! i'm jane, and i'm from the sunshine coast hinterland in qld :) i've been vegan for maybe 16-17 years?.... i live with my vegan partner and my two (life) vegan kids, e is 4 and z is 1. so that also makes me a stay at home mum right now. i love that in my tiny town, there are three cafes i can get a good slice of vegan cake from. and one of those is a completely vegetarian/vegan cafe. unlike matt, i don't have any favourite cookbooks that aren't by isa and terry hahaha. my current fave things to do are playing ukulele and slacklining (which i'm shiitake at). i also love crochet, gardening, yoga and all things circus :D yup. that's me. dreadlock circus housewife hahahaha

I'm Erin and I'm based in Canberra, but not ready to call myself Canberran. I moved here from Adelaide a bit over three years ago, to work for the Government. I've been 'full time' vegan for three years, and was vegetarian/mostly vegan for a while before that. Canberra was a lonely place to be vegan at first, but things have changed a huge amount in the time I've been here and are getting better every day!

In addition to working full time, I also study part time (a Masters at ANU), volunteer with a couple of international development organisations, practice yoga and bake compulsively for almost any occasion (and often when there is no occasion). I also enjoy an array of elderly hobbies include knitting, cross stitch, jam-making and complaining about youths. I'm also quite fond of my two idiot rescue dogs, Hank Scorpio and Pants.

I'm Sarah and I'm an NZer but am temporarily relocated to Manchester for a Masters degree (Law & Development) where everyone asks me why I moved to the UK from Australia. I miss the Pacific a LOT. I like pickles and fermented things (currently waiting for a giant jar of kimchi to get to the right stage of rot) and playing in parks. I mostly lurked in the NZ/Australia thread, hopefully I'll be more active in a subforum?

Hey everyone! I'm Darcy, and I live in Melbourne at the moment... I've been here for nearly 2 years now but don't see it as my forever-home. I'm originally from Perth, and lived in Fremantle for 6 years, so Melbourne really doesn't fit with my love of seaside town living. I haven't decided where I might want to be in future, but hopefully somewhere with less people, less huge buildings, and more ocean. We'll see.

Ummm.... I've been vegan for just over 10 years, and I love pretty much everything about food. I'm really passionate about fermenting and make my own tempeh etc regularly. I work at the Melbourne Uni Food Co-op (which I mention every time someone says they're coming to Melbourne) as a co-ordinator, and when I'm not there I play music in a few different bands, including one called Coral Ceto (we have no internet presence yet, but we're working on it!), work on zines (well, I've just started one recently), crochet/knit/sew/quilt/craft generally, and make stuff. I also sometimes run clowning and physical theatre workshops.

I'm queer and trans and use "they" pronouns. I like to get up early to watch the sun rise and have a stretch on my back porch. I'm hoping that when I move house I'll be motivated enough to start my first garden. At the moment I just have a collection of ferns living in my bedroom, all of which I am quite attached to.

_________________If I chew on garlic that's been in a vagina, isn't that exploiting SOMEONE? - coldandsleepyAfter all, you can't spell Richard Dawkins without "dickwad". - EmperorTomatoKetchup

Hello, I'm from the Gong, and i also like fermenting things! Yoghurt, water kefir, cheese (from AVC or things based upon ) and have my own sourdough starter, though i usually make semi-sourdough breads.

Over the summer i've gotten a little obsessed with working out ways of not turning on the oven, so making bread on the stove, steaming cake etc. And lately i've been going a little crazy experimenting with flax meringue, which i posted about here viewtopic.php?f=18&t=25665. Which does require turning on the oven, but only to about 100C, so that's okay : ) I'm pretty sure i'll be able to figure out how to make pavlova with it, but the experiments are on hold for a couple weeks due to busyness.

Wow! I haven't been around for a couple of months...and now a whole forum for us! Woohoo!

I'm Caeli - i'm from Perth, but lived in Melbourne for ten years and then Hobart for almost three. Right now though, I'm taking a break after finishing my Masters in Social Work at the end of last year and so now I live in a van with my partner as we travel around Australia! Currently near Newcastle but migrating north for winter.

I'm 25, and have been vegetarian since I was about 13, and vegan for maybe fourish years? I can't remember exactly. I recently jumped on the blog bandwagon to keep family and friends in touch with our travel as well as our vegan adventures, over at Little Vegan Bear.

I love cooking, but with just a little gas stove now our meals have become a little more limited. Now i'm on the constant lookout for quick and easy dishes and good old one pot meals, and that's what brought me back here. So hi! Nice to meet you all :)

I'm new here so lets give this a go :) I'm Stephanie from Auckland. I've been vegan almost a year and vegetarian for 2 years before that. I Love music and Art and just eating.. I love food :) Its really nice to meet you all

I'm Sarah and I'm from Christchurch, New Zealand (aka shakey town). I'm in a civil union partnership with my husband and we have a almost 7 month old. I've been vegan for 3 years and my partner/baby is too. Afr was my first vegan book and the reason I could make it happen long term! I'm a stay at home mum, I love crime fiction more than I should, have a sociology/geography degree, just started gardening and have a bad habit of getting enough into hobbies to get a collection of bits and pieces before getting busy with something else. I love cooking/baking though. Quite excited to be on the forum :D

Hello! I'm Donna-Marie and I'm originally from Scotland but moved to Melbourne with my aussie husband last year. I've been vegan for 22 years and was veggie for a number of years previous to that. I can be found drinking coffee and stuffing my face down Brunswick St as I love it there! I'm excited to meet like-minded people <3 x

My name is Mandie, and I've been veggie for over 20 years, and have been leaning more and more toward veganism. I teach Pilates and sometimes Yoga, and am obsessed with the 1930's and '40s.

I'm originally from the States, but have lived in France, and for about 16 years in London. Now I am desperate, after one visit last year, to move to NZ, lock stock and barrel with partner, 2 greyhounds and 1 lurcher! It is truly the most gorgeous place I've ever visited in my life, with lovely people.

We'll be back next month to view homes, talk to prospective employers, and see what it may be like (insofar as is possible in 2 1/2 weeks) to be in one area - Nelson - permanently. (And get a proper coffee and feijoa fix!)

If anyone has any tips about places to eat, shop, etc., I would be truly grateful!

How exciting that we have our own forum now. I was on the old boards for a long time (under the same name) but floated away for a while. I'm back now though! I've started blogging what I eat/cook because a friend of mine wanted to learn how to cook and it reminded me just how much I enjoy talking and writing about food when it is with like-minded people.

I'm a kiwi from Auckland originally but now living in Melbourne (so many vegan options it is overwhelmingly awesome). I have a husband and a cat. And I cook a lot.

I take a lot of photos and love my camera like a limb so expect to see me in the food porn forum as I slowly learn more about food photography (I normally do portraiture and it is a very different style of photography to learn).

I can't seem to edit my post - I forgot to mention that I've been vegan for about 8 years and vegetarian for a further 12 years or so before that. I was vegetarian since I was a kid but my (now) husband went vegan when we moved in together. After a few years of being mostly vegan at home I couldn't keep being hypocritical about the whole farming thing. So I cut out the cheese, egg and wool and I haven't looked back. I was one of those people who would say 'oh but I couldn't give up cheese!' - turns out that I could (thank goodness for millet and nooch cheese sauces) and I actually feel much better for it both physically and ethically. So yay!

Greetings from chilly Dunedin, New Zealand. Late 30s male, vegan for couple of years now due to ethical reasons. BF and cat, the former also vegan. Interests include great food, radical theory and music.

I'm new to the forum. My name is Kyra, I live in rural NSW, with my (omnivore) husband and 3 children (vegan). We are a homeschooling family, so that's a lot of fun. And we have 7 cats. I've been vegan for about 14 years now, and was vegetarian for 5 years before that. I like cooking, sewing, gardening.. oh, and I'm currently studying for my Advanced Diploma in Western Herbal Medicine.